On the licensing fee topic. I am not surprise that they will charge a licensing fee for satellite, but a bit shock for a licensing fee for cable.

I can somewhat understand the need of charging a licensing fee for satellite. Its not something I can easily explain, but it has to do with the "rights" to legally use high power data transmission over the air (via satellite)... its quite common in the telecom industry. Some company suck up on the expense (like radio stations), while others (Cell phone for example) charge something like a system access fee....

licensing fees are not that uncommon in many european countries and the legislation is usually worded the same way. u "need" to pay a license fee if u own a monitor which has the ability to receive visual broadcasting. in simple terms it means that u r required to pay if u own a working tv, it doesn't matter whether u use it or whether or not u r actually watching the channel that receives the fee, in japan NHK. it actually also includes tv-tuner card on computers. now as for tv broadcasting received by mobiles i don't know for certain. it's not yet that common in europe and therefore, as far as i know, mobiles r not included in the legislation.

the license fee also covers the cost of running state-runned, tax-funded radio stations, such as BBC radio or NHK radio, but u don't need to pay for any radio u might own, only for ur visual broadcast receiving monitor.

xpid, i know it has only been a day or two, but could u pls indicate the sources where u found the penalties for not paying the license fee.

was no 1 else left scratching their head at why an 18year lad from puerto rico is so passionate about warning ppl against not payin for ther tv license in japan? :confused: that is so weird to me

You're not alone on that one.

Everyone needs a hobby. Even if it`s one hard for us to understand...

For all we know his dream may be to become an NHK fee collector.

The fee is 4000 yen, but I'm not sure if that is for the month or the year, I don't care to find out one way or the other. I have a slingbox at home in America, so I can watch American cable tv on my pc wherever I can get online.

For those of you who are in Japan and want to do the same thing, you need to find someone in America who has cable and broadband internet. The slingbox is a one-time purchase, and runs from $100 to $250 depending on the version you get. Once hooked up to the broadband modem, you can access the modem from anywhere you can get on the internet. There are no monthly fees, just the initial purchase. Installation is fairly straightforward, just follow the directions on the included cd rom, or download the directions and program from slingbox directly.

Video quality depends on the connection speed. With my fiber-optic internet in Japan, the resolution is excellent.

I hope I speak for more than myself, but I would be pretty anxious about giving money to anyone coming to my front door... You just don't do that.

yeap, the me-gaijin-no-japanese technique always works :)

Do you guys talking about NHK - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ? =o
I have a question: If some people move to Japan they don't know about it need pay fees for NHK They see it to not? Iif what's doing someone not pay NHK fees for they not watch it?

I am pretty sure thats 4000 yen per year.

They never came to my house, so I never paid a fee.